The Smothers Brothers…SMOTHERED By CBS

On February 5, 2017 - Viewseum


On February 5, 1967, the Smothers Brothers debuted on CBS and went head to head with the Cartwright brothers on NBC’s Sunday night ratings giant “Bonanza”. To everyone’s (even CBS’s) amazement, in less than a month, they had taken the ratings lead!  “The rest” as they say, “is history”…but it was a history that was as unusual as their start. The more successful they became, the more CBS tried to hold them back.

To tell this very important and moving story, here is our friend Maureen Muldaur’s great documentary Smothered from 2002. Tom and Dick tell a lot of the story, but just about everyone involved is here too, including another friend of ours, producer George Sunga.  Enjoy and Share! -Bobby Ellerbee

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4 Comments

  1. Phil Savenick February 5, 2017

    my first job in television was making short films for a short lived Smothers Brothers. show on NBC. We did a show with guests Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin, and Ringo Starr and got cancelled anyway.

  2. Marc Wielage February 5, 2017

    Absolutely a classic comedy/variety show if there ever was one. And the quality of the production was always first rate — they did a lot of interesting chromakey bumpers and stuff, too.

  3. Terry Drymon February 5, 2017

    Again thank you for another great look at our past!

  4. Jonathan Himsel February 5, 2017

    Smothered is an outstanding documentary- bought it on DVD